Hello to the new folks (and the old!)
[PSA: Maybe it’s just me who gets confused, but just wanted to point out to any who are new that the number in D17, etc. is HS grad year, not age. Who me? Yeah I did it wrong until someone corrected me! Just in case some don’t know yet and might call child services if I tell them my D11 is getting married on Saturday! (True!)]
Reporting in a little prematurely as we are on the tail end of our one and only college visit tour. S18 heads for Germany for HS senior year in less than three weeks! Thank goodness the trip has been a smashing success. We visited George Mason, George Washington, UMD-CP, Towson, and tomorrow is UMBC. He went in completely entranced by UMD-College Park, but the poor turtles have been smited by the Patriot. He loved every single thing about George Mason. First in the nation undergrad cybersecurity, beautiful campus with green space and trees, but commuting distance to DC internships. The tour guide and admissions rep (who was a grad student and recent GMU grad) were exactly the kind of students he wants to hang around, work, and have fun with.
Towson was number two. A pretty similar experience. Basically, everything was very nice, just not quite as good as Mason. He liked a lot about GWU, but I think it’s coming off the list. No real dining plan unless you bus to the Mount Vernon campus every day. He did not like the divided campus thing. Otherwise, did like the Foggy Bottom campus and being right in the city. Did not like that cybersecurity majors don’t start any actual cybersecurity classes until junior year. At Mason they start freshman year.
Poor UMD-CP, I’m sure they’re not crying too hard over the loss of my son no longer being in love with them. He did not care for the campus. He thought it was too sports-ish. We’ll see how UMBC measures up tomorrow.
From a parent perspective: He tossed the two more selective schools that probably wouldn’t have let him in, much less offer a little money. He loves the two less competitive, less expensive schools where he can get a nice honors scholarship and probably more opportunity to do research. Maybe the third time really is the charm and the college process will be a breeze!
@rwmannesq, LOVE your Wile E. Coyote avatar! My D17 is HF autistic and has had quite a journey. She will be headed to RIT this fall where they have a spectrum support program. If you’re interested you might want to skim through the 2017 3.0-3.4 thread. But in some ways your S is more like my D11 who has NVLD (lots of overlap with the Aspergers end of ASD). She had a 3.7 with no honors/APs and didn’t do too well on the ACT, but her SAT was pretty good (I don’t remember the exact numbers). My ASD D17 wrote her essay about her struggles, which were very significant. She was not always HF. I would say that your S should probably address his struggles somewhere in the app. If not in the essay, then the “additional information” section. Also, her counselor rec was co-written by her case manager who knows her very well. I think this helped the adcoms understand how hard she had worked.
D17 took the SAT once and ACT once and did better on ACT. She said “No more!” I agree, if the kid doesn’t need a better score to get a desperately needed scholarship or something, let it lie. Extended time is wonderful, but also brutal. In fact, my “normie” S18 will not retake the SAT again even though his score went DOWN on the 2nd testing and I think he could do better if he tried. I don’t know if you’ve thought about test optional schools, but that may be of interest.
Are you looking at any schools with spectrum support? It does give H and I a sense of security that D will have a special pre-orientation and will meet regularly with a mentor, along with some social help that includes organized activities. I suppose I’ll be reporting on such things in real-time soon – yikes!
I don’t worry about him not getting in anywhere, but I do worry about affording it!